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Source: www.montypython.com

JOHN CLEESE

Born in Weston-Super-Mare in North Somerset, Cleese studied law at Cambridge University, where he also wrote and performed in Cambridge Footlights revues with medical student Graham Chapman. He escaped a projected career as a solicitor by accepting an offer to write for BBC Radio.
Cleese later worked on the pun-filled radio sketch show, "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again," which led to writing and starring in David Frost's "The Frost Report" (where he met fellow writers Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle), and "At Last the 1948 Show."
Beginning in 1969 with Monty Python, Cleese's deft portrayals of seething anger and lunatic physical comedy made him an icon. Among his unforgettable Python characters: A customer seeking redress for being sold a dead parrot; an instructor teaching defensive strategies against fresh fruit; the limber Minster of Silly Walks; a funeral home customer being offered his dead mother as a meal; a Pepperpot musing about the penguin perched on her television set; confused highwayman Dennis Moore; a customer at an annoyingly empty cheese shop; Miss Anne Elk, an authority on dinosaurs; the Black Knight, who fights on despite serious amputations; a Roman centurion who corrects the grammar of Brian's Latin graffiti; a French waiter catering to the most disgusting customer in the world; and the stalwart BBC announcer always promising his audience "something completely different."
Of the group's members, Cleese attained the first major solo success post-Python with the TV series "Fawlty Towers." He also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for "A Fish Called Wanda" (for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance).
Cleese's other film and TV credits include "Time Bandits," "Silverado"; "Privates on Parade"; "Clockwise"; "Cheers"; "Fierce Creatures"; "The Out-of-Towners"; "3rd Rock from the Sun"; and "Shrek the Third." He also played Nearly Headless Nick in the Harry Potter films, and Q's successor, R, in the James Bond series.
Cleese also collaborated with psychotherapist Robin Skynner on two books, "Families and How To Survive Them," and "Life and How to Survive It."

GRAHAM CHAPMAN

Born in Leicester, Graham Chapman studied medicine at Cambridge and St. Bartholomew's, but it was his participation in Cambridge's Footlights Club (where he met and partnered with John Cleese) that led to his touring New Zealand with "Cambridge Circus." Comedy overtook his medical career. (His training would still come in handy years later, writing scripts for "Doctor in the House.")
Chapman (together with Cleese) wrote for "That Was the Week That Was," "The Frost Report," "At Last the 1948 Show," "Marty" and "How to Irritate People."
Chapman's surreal brand of humor was an extension of his outré behavior in public places (such as licking the feet of women sitting in restaurants). It provided a spark of lunacy ("Splunge!") that could take Python's comic ideas into the stratosphere.
The son of a police inspector, Chapman often played befuddled or obnoxious policemen, and most notably appeared as the Colonel, who abruptly interrupted sketches or castigated the actors for being "too silly." Other parts included bonkers movie executive Irving C. Saltzberg, Jr.; a cross-dressing cabinet minister; the President of the Royal Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things; the false-proboscis-wearing Raymond Luxury Yacht; The Rev. Arthur Belling of St. Looney Up-The-Cream-Bun-and-Jam; Sir Kenneth Clark, defending his Oxford title in a boxing ring; Oscar Wilde competing with James MacNeil Whistler and George Bernard Shaw over bon mots; a gloomy Icelander hawking honey; Mr. Neutron ("the man who could catch H-Bombs in his teeth"); and, most famously, as the leads - King Arthur and Brian - in the Pythons' two best movies.
Outside of the group, Chapman's film and TV output - "Yellowbeard," "The Odd Job," "Jake's Journey" - was outshone by his 1980 memoir, "A Liar's Autobiography: Volume VI," which recounted his coming of age, his coming out, and his overcoming his addiction to alcohol. The book became the basis of a posthumous animated feature, incorporating the reading Chapman had done for his audiobook recording for the soundtrack.
Having survived alcoholism and participation in the Dangerous Sports Club, and serving as a spokesperson for gay rights, Chapman died of complications from throat and spinal cancer on October 4, 1989. He was only 48 years old, and would no longer be late for a Python writing session.

ERIC IDLE

Born in South Shields in Northern England, Eric Idle was president of Footlights at Cambridge University (and was the first to allow women into the theatrical club). He appeared on stage in "Oh! What a Lovely War," contributed to the BBC Radio series "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again," and worked on "The Frost Report" and "We Have Ways of Making You Laugh" (which also featured cartoonist Terry Gilliam). He later invited Terry Jones and Michael Palin and eventually Gilliam to join him on "Do Not Adjust Your Set."
Idle's razor-sharp wit and musical gifts were evident throughout Python's TV, movie, book and record output. A master of wordplay, Idle portrayed a chat show guest who speaks entirely in anagrams, as well as a man who helps people learn to finish their own sentences.
Among his other memorable characters were a children's storyteller shocked by his book's scandalous content; an insinuating pub patron who tries to tease out a fellow patron's sex life; Bruce, the Australian academic whose passions include philosophy and beer; a travel agent customer who rants unceasingly about bad experiences abroad; TV personality Timmy Williams (whose resemblance to David Frost was entirely coincidental), and award show host Dickie Attenborough; matriarch of the award-winning East Midlands Most Awful Family (Lower-Middle-Class Section); an RAF pilot with appallingly bad banter; the not-quite-so-brave Sir Robin; and Stan, who wants to be called Loretta.
His musical contributions, such as "The Penis Song", "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" and "The Galaxy Song," and his affectionate mockumentary of the Beatles-like Rutles, preceded his Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, "Monty Python's Spamalot," and his oratorio, "Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy" both written with John Du Prez. He most recently created and directed the Pythons' 2014 reunion show at the O2 Arena.
Idle's non-Python appearances include "Rutland Weekend Television," "SNL," "National Lampoon's European Vacation," "The Mikado," "Yellowbeard," "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," "Nuns on the Run," "Casper," "Splitting Heirs," "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" and "Boxtrolls."
He is author of the plays "Pass the Butler" and "What About Dick?" the novels "The Road to Mars" and "Hello Sailor" and documented his "Greedy Bastard Tour" in a 2005 book.

TERRY GILLIAM

Born and raised in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, Terry Gilliam's youthful enthusiasm for drawing cartoons infused his academic life and his streak of anti-authoritarianism. His early knockabout career, as a magazine illustrator and art director in L.A. and New York City in the 1960s, allowed him to cross paths with "Cambridge Circus" star John Cleese, whom he featured in a "Help" magazine photo essay about a man's lust for a Barbie doll.
After moving to London, Gilliam continued with creating cartoons and animation for "We Have Ways of Making You Laugh," "Do Not Adjust Your Set," "Marty," and "Broaden Your Mind."
Gilliam's cut-out animations, which fused silly drawings with imagery borrowed from centuries' worth of art, architecture and photographs, were a visual counterpoint to the surreal verbal inventions of the Python writers. They provided the connective tissue for the series' stream-of-consciousness flow of sketches, while giving the series a style unlike any on TV.
Among his most memorable cartoon contributions (at least those that can be cogently described): Rodin's statue "The Kiss" as a musical instrument; a body builder's course for bulking up muscles; Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth; a giant cat prowling London for man-eating cars; American democracy sold like toothpaste; Cartoon Religions, in which the devil lurks within a smiling clergyman; figures from famous paintings walking out on strike; and a television that really IS bad for the viewer's eyes.
He also made the odd foray into performing, as the original nude organist in "Blackmail"; Cardinal Fang of the Spanish Inquisition; and an obscenely obese man with the single-minded pursuit of consuming beans.
Gilliam also provided visual flair to the Python films, as co-director of "Holy Grail," and production designer of "Life of Brian," as well as creating the accompanying and invasive short to "The Meaning of Life", "The Crimson Permanent Assurance".
He branched out into solo directing with the medieval satire "Jabberwocky," starring Michael Palin. His later films include "Time Bandits"; "Brazil" (for which he shared an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay); "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"; "The Fisher King"; "Twelve Monkeys"; "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"; "Tideland"; "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"; and "The Zero Theorem."

TERRY JONES

Among the Pythons, Terry Jones - an enthusiastic and passionate driver of the group - has pursued perhaps the broadest range of artistic and intellectual pursuits, from writing and performing to directing; from comedian and children's book author to Middle Ages scholar; from documentary host to political columnist.
Born in Colwyn Bay, Wales, Jones teamed with fellow Oxford student Michael Palin to write and perform revues for the university's theatre club. They later contributed their surreal humor to "The Frost Report," "Do Not Adjust Your Set," "Broaden Your Mind," "Marty," and "The Complete and Utter History of Britain."
Jones was the Python most likely to appear in drag (usually as a haggard housewife having to contend with gas cooker deliverymen, rat tarts or poets) or nude (playing the organ). His most notable characters include Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson, Cardinal Biggles of the Spanish Inquisition; Scottish poet Ewan McTeagle; aspiring but hopelessly untalented filmmaker L.F. Dibley; a Spam restaurateur; Superintendant Harry "Snapper" Organs; a collector of butterfly hunters; Arthur Mee, the cheesy host of the All-England Summarise Proust Competition; the Dirty Vicar; prospective bridegroom Prince Herbert; Mandy, the mother of Brian (not the messiah, but a very naughty boy); and the gluttonous Mr. Creosote.
Jones co-directed (with Terry Gilliam) "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," and thereafter directed the subsequent Python features "Life of Brian" and "The Meaning of Life." His other directing credits include "Personal Services," "Erik the Viking," "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," and "Absolutely Everything." He also penned the screenplay for the Jim Henson fantasy "Labyrinth."
His books include "Fairy Tales," "Nicobobinus," "The Knight and the Squire," "Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery," "Crusades," "Terry Jones's War on the War on Terror," "Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic," and (with Palin) "Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls."

Sadly, Terry passed away in 2020 at the age of 77.

MICHAEL PALIN

Born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, Michael Palin was a student of history at Oxford, where he wrote and performed in theatrical shows with Terry Jones. The two became writing partners whose TV credits included "The Frost Report," "Marty," "Do Not Adjust Your Set," and "The Complete and Utter History of Britain," before the formation of Python.
The most innocent-looking of the group -- and consequently able to play some of the most subversive parts, such as gangsters or unctuous presenters, to uproarious effect -- Palin is best known for such Python characters as the leader of the Spanish Inquisition; the devious proprietor of a pet shop selling dead parrots, or of a cheese shop devoid of cheese; the transvestite lumberjack; the host of the game show "Blackmail"; the bicyclist Mr. Pither; the mentally-challenged Mr. Gumby; the leader of the Knights Who Say "Ni!"; and Roman governor Pontius Pilate, afflicted with a giggle-inducing speech impediment.
Palin's greatest Python moment, however, might be the absurd "Fish Slapping Dance," in which he is knocked off Teddington Lock into the Thames by a man wielding a very large fish.
Outside of Python, Palin played a nice-guy torturer in "Brazil," and an animal-loving jewel thief in "A Fish Called Wanda." Palin's other credits (as writer, actor, or both) include the TV series "Ripping Yarns" (with Terry Jones); "Jabberwocky" and "Time Bandits" (with Terry Gilliam); "The Missionary"; "A Private Function"; and as the lead role in both the Alan Bleasdale 1991 TV series "G.B.H." and the 2014 three-part supernatural thriller "Remember Me" for BBC1.
Palin gained further renown beyond the comedy world with his successful documentaries recounting his globe-trotting travels, such as "Around the World in Eighty Days"; "Pole to Pole"; "Full Circle"; "Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure"; "Sahara"; "Himalaya"; "Michael Palin's New Europe"; and "Brazil."
He has also published three volumes of his diaries, and two novels: "Hemingway's Chair" and "The Truth." His children's books including "Small Harry and the Toothache Pills." His play, "The Weekend," was produced in London in 1994.